Earlier this afternoon, the Senate voted 81-17 to grant the waiver that Trump’s Secretary of Defense nominee, General James “Mad Dog” Mattis, would need in order to serve in that position. In order to preserve civilian control of the military, current law prevents the appointment any military officer who has been out of active duty for less than seven years. Although the principle of civilian control of the military goes back to the Constitution, this specific requirement traces to the National Security Act of 1947.
Retired lieutenant colonel William Astore explains the importance of civilian control in the The Nation:
First, the president already has a team of uniformed generals to advise him: the Joint Chiefs of Staff. By selecting career military men like Mattis and Flynn as his senior civilian advisers on military matters, Trump is in essence creating a rival Joint Chiefs, his own tight circle of generals trained and acculturated to think about the world as primarily a realm of conflict and to favor military solutions to geopolitical problems. Second, though it’s getting ever harder to remember in increasingly militarized America, this nation was founded on the fundamental principle of civilian control over the military, a principle that will be seriously eroded if the president’s senior civilian advisers on defense-related matters are men who self-identify as warriors and warfighters.
Having taken off the uniform only a short time ago, career military men like Mattis, Flynn, and Kelly are not truly civilians. In fact, when they served, they weren’t even citizen-soldiers; quite the opposite, those in America’s post-Vietnam military self-identify as professional warriors….
The bottom line is this: A republic—or should I say, former republic?—founded on civilian control of the military needs true civilians as a counterweight to militarism as well as military adventurism. Recently retired generals are anything but that; they’re not even speed bumps on the road to the next set of misbegotten military “adventures.” They are likely to be only one thing: enablers of and accelerants to military action. Their presence in the highest civilian positions represents nothing short of a de facto military coup in Washington, a coup that required no violence since the president-elect simply anointed and exalted them as America’s security saviors.
As one would expect from a Trump nominee Mattis is also an Iran hawk, alleged war criminal, and war profiteer:
With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at Trump’s chosen threesome, starting with Gen. Mattis. He has his virtues: a distinguished career in the Marine Corps, a sensible stance against torture, a dedication to all ranks within the military. Yet like so many high-ranking military retirees—take Gen. Mark Welsh of the Air Force, for example—Mattis quickly cashed in on his career, reputation, and continuing influence via the military-industrial complex. Despite a six-figure pension, he joined corporate boards, notably that of military-industrial powerhouse Gen. Dynamics where he quickly earned or acquired nearly $1.5 million in salary and stock options. Mattis is also on the board at Theranos, a deeply troubled company that failed to deliver on promises to develop effective blood-testing technologies for the military.
And then, of course, there was his long military career, itself a distinctly mixed bag. As head of US Central Command under President Obama, for instance, his hawkish stance toward Iran led to his removal and forced retirement in 2013. Almost a decade earlier in 2004, the aggressive tactics he oversaw in Iraq as commanding general of the 1st Marine Division during the Battle of Fallujah have been characterized by some as war crimes.
31 Senate Democrats joined the 50 Republicans in attendance (two were absent for the vote) to vote for the waiver.
Here are the 17 who voted NO—and who should be thanked for their vote:
Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)
Cory Booker (D-NJ)
Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)
Dick Durbin (D-IL)
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Pat Leahy (D-VT)
Ed Markey (D-MA)
Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
Chris Murphy (D-CT)
Pat Murray (D-WA)
Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Jon Tester (D-MT)
Tom Udall (D-NM)
Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Ron Wyden (D-OR)
House Democrats seem more opposed than Senate Democrats, although will not likely be able to block the waiver.